Josh Heupel is proving to be the exact opposite type of coach he was hired to be when Tennessee hired him in 2021. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Heupel was hired as an offensive guru. He was hired to utilize what some would call a “gimmick” offense and, hopefully, fill in the rest of the blanks, which would include concerns about recruiting, how he would put together a defense and his ability to manage a high-level program. 

That would win some games and sell some tickets. 

Then – perhaps – championships would follow. However, that’s not who Heupel has become, which should actually have Tennessee’s fan base more optimistic than one would think following a 31-17 loss to Georgia on Saturday in Athens.

Time will tell if Heupel will be a championship coach. There are many factors in that. Recruiting, NIL, roster management, etc. However, it’s time to wonder if Heupel’s one deficiency now wasn’t once considered his greatest strength – his offensive prowess.

The Vols rank 10th in passing offense in the SEC with 229.5 yards per game. The Vols longest completion against Georgia was for just 17 yards. That’s not an explosive passing attack. It’s an efficient one and there’s a difference. Tennessee can’t outrace opponents anymore, but why?

The one common denominator since the Vols flew this close to the College Football Playoff sun was when they had a different offensive coordinator. That would seem to be an easy fix, right? 

The Vols need to shift more responsibility to Heupel from offensive coordinator Joey Halzle, who was hired to replace former Tennessee offensive coordinator Alex Golesh by South Florida following the Vols’ magical 11-2 run in 2022, or get more cooks in the kitchen.

Halzle’s time at Tennessee hasn’t gone as well as those not-so-long, good ol’ days. Of course, he hasn’t had the luxury of a mature quarterback with a deft deep touch and a Fred Biletnikoff Award-winning receiver like Hendon Hooker and Jalin Hyatt, respectively, but he also hasn’t had broken parts to work with. The Vols have talent. They just don’t have the right game plan – or enough of them.

With Golesh in charge, Tennessee’s offense was systematic, but multiple. With Halzle in charge, the Vols have been systematic, but not as versatile and, most times, predictable. The issue isn’t just an indictment of Halzle, but a problem with the entire coaching staff. 

Halzle was a voice among many good offensive minds at Central Florida when the Heupel troupe coached there. Now, he’s the man amongst his offense at Tennessee.

Golesh isn’t exactly lighting things up at South Florida. The Bulls rank 59th in the nation in scoring offense at 28.6 points per game. It seems that both parties sums are better than their individual parts.

Former Alabama coach Nick Saban knew as much. That’s why he’d hire most anyone, even former Tennessee coaches like Butch Jones and Lane Kiffin. If Saban thought any coach could bring something innovative to the team, they had a place in Tuscaloosa. Saban had the leverage to get coaches to coach for less than a full-time employee at Buc-ee’s gets paid to cook brisket for a couple of reasons. 

First, Saban could rehabilitate coaches and get them ready for another job no matter how sullied their career had been. Heupel doesn’t have that leverage and he doesn’t have enough time to run a game plan through his head another bazillion times like another mind can do. Sometimes more is better. Sometimes a new set of eyes can see things differently. Then, there’s Saban’s power, which we’ll get to, but let’s stick with Heupel for now.

The Vols’ don’t have the second-coming of former Florida coach Steve Spurrier, who Heupel has often been compared to, but they have someone who is, currently, consistently competitive. Is that enough for Tennessee in this era of transfer portal and NIL? If so, then the Vols are in good shape. 

Tennessee is going to be exactly where they are for the foreseeable future, a College Football Playoff contender, but not a champion, until the Vols can get a new-look offense – or an offense with more new looks. 

The Vols’ scoring against comparable competition has been so bad this season that a 10-point first quarter was a stunner in Athens on Saturday. Yes, it was shocking to see Tennessee look proficient on offense. Why? Because the Vols haven’t gotten anywhere close to scaring good teams like they did in 2022. 

No coach is successful alone. No coordinator is successful alone. Heupel needs to understand that.

Heupel is distrustful by nature and I can’t blame him. Few ever believed he would have been a successful quarterback. That’s why he had limited scholarship offers out of high school before becoming a Heisman Trophy candidate at Oklahoma, which then fired him after the 2014 season when he was the Sooners’ offensive coordinator. That will fuel the fire of distrust.

Heupel takes some satisfaction in how he deals with the media. He’s well known for joking about saying something while not really saying anything during press conferences, which are about as informational as a toothpick. 

There’s also reason to be paranoid after what happened to the Vols against South Carolina in 2022. Was sign stealing an issue in the game? Almost certainly. Is that an excuse? No, but all coaches are on guard after what surfaced about how hangers-on can share information about sideline signals and other offensive secrets, which brings us back to Saban and the advantage he had at Alabama.

No one would have ever sold out Saban, who had the power of multiple championships at his disposal. He did – and probably still does – have an influence on who is hired when coaching vacancies come open. One had better not bite the hand that feeds them. Kiffin, who loves to rankle feathers, always treated Saban with the utmost respect despite being polar-opposite personalities.

Tennessee hasn’t really been explosive against a quality opponent on defense since the Kentucky game in 2022. Sure, throw in the Vols’ two bowl wins if you’d like, but those games have different meanings for different teams and bowl matchups are a rather poor indicator of a championship level program now that we live in a playoff environment. 

Heupel has proven to be adept at the very things critics pointed out when he was hired. However, he is deficient in what hooked him the job. Heupel is a great coach, but not an elite offensive mind by himself.

The Vols need a fresh look on offense. There’s no denying there is talent. There is no denying that Halzle is a part of the problem, he can still be a part of the solution. If not, the Vols had better be used to being contenders and not champions.